Tones of the Day

Helping Mom unload groceries at the Big House, Yali managed to run across the jackpot. Setting a sack of Oreos in my lap, he declared a hearty, “Hah-Lo-Loo-Jah!”

When the fat stick stretched out across the path in the woods turned out instead to be a long, black, very alive snake, my heart about stopped. But, true to form, my reaction was a mostly soundless gasp as I jumped back. Puck followed suit.

“Mom! You freaked me out! I thought there was a guy with a gun or something! You freaked me out, Mom!”

We watched the equally terrified slither-er slide off into the undergrowth, rattling an indignant dinky little tail at us as he exited the path.

Yali handed me his spoon for another dip into the peanut butter jar. Snack.

“I wash it again,” he explained.

“What did you wash the spoon on, Yali?” I asked him.

His look was nothing less than pure guilt. “I wash on bed.”